Wheel rim and tire-bead-loosening tool therefor

ABSTRACT

A tire-bead-loosening tool in combination with a wheel rim having a specially designed offset on the side ring retaining flange for receiving attachment hooks of the loosening tool.

United States Patent References Cited [72] Inventors Gerhart L. Gerbeth;

777 .LLl. 777 555 111 S mmm T m; N N E m m m m A P u" S n m E mm T r aAe t T W D .1 NEW? 697 N556 Uwww 780 l 363 2 3 ,3 M ,9 223 V. m m 0 C .mm h o n m 0 R r & m m T r 0 @8 B 99W. A ll MOBM mfiw h In re su h H8AATa de N mm i. ng wmmm AHPA nz ifl 2 47 Primary Examiner-Granville Y.Custer, Jr. Att0rneysF. W. Brunner and Paul E. Milliken Akron, Ohio TOOL[54] WHEEL RIM AND TlRE-BEAD-LOOSENING THEREFOR 157/1 17 ABSTRACT: Atire-bead-loosening tool in combination with a Bc 25/06 wheel rim havinga specially designed offset on the side ring 157/1 .17, retaining flangefor receiving attachment hooks of the loosening tool.

[51] Int. [50] Field iii k I fill ngiiii mum PATENTEnAPmmn 5 sum 1 or 2/NVE/V7'0R$ HAROLD A. Bum's ATTORNEY GE'RHART L. GERBETH engage thisparticular wheel rim design.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the past, various bead loosening toolshave been devised for breaking the tire loose from the bead seat onlarge wheels of the type used on earthmovers and other heavyoff-the-road vehicles. Many of these bead loosening tools have beendesigned for use with a particular type of wheel rim having a particularcontour or surface which may be gripped by jaws on the tool orhavingspecial adapters on the rim to which the bead loosening. tool maybe attached. A typical example of such device is shown in U.S. Pat. No.3,344,833 issued to W. D. Pile et al. showing two different types ofadapters which are welded to a side ring of a wheel rim and a beadloosening tool with special hooks for gripping or engaging the adapters.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION It is a primary object of this invention toprovide a wheel rim of simple design with part of the rim beingspecially contoured for receiving attachment hooks of a bead-looseningtool.

Another object of this invention is to provide a beadloosening toolwhich may be easily attached to a specially designed wheel rim with aminimum amount of time and effort and may easily bev detached after thetire bead has been broken loose from the bead seat.

These and other objects of the invention will become more fully apparentas the description proceeds in the following specification and theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS operative position for loosening thetire bead from the bead seat; and

FIG. is a cross-sectional view of the bead-loosening tool and rim shownin FIG. 4 with portions broken away to show the manner in which the toolis attached to the side flange of the rim'when used to loosen the beadseat.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIG. 1, a typical multiplepiece rim assembly for large offthe-road or earthmover tubeless ortube-type tires is shown in which the numeral 1 represents an endlessrim base having a side ring retaining flange 2 extending radiallyoutwardly along one edge thereof and an integral gutter edge portion 3.along the opposite edge. The gutter edge portion 3 has an endlessradially outwardly facing gutter or channel 4 into which a splitlockring 5 is mounted to engage an annular bead seat band 6 whichtelescopes over the rim base I and is spaced radially outwardlytherefrom. The bead seat band 6 has a radially inner and radiallyouterface and a side ring retaining flange 7 extending radially outwardlyfrom its axially outer edge. An annular channel 8 is spaced axiallyinwardly on the rim base 1 from the gutter 4 thereby forming a radiallyoutwardly facing annular ledge 9 therebetween. A lockring seatingsurface 10, formed by the radially outer face of the ledge 9, lies inthe same plane as the adjacent portions of the radially outer face ofthe rim base]. An O-ring 11 is located between the bead seat band 6 andthe rim base 1 in the channel 8 so that when the bead seat band 6 is inthe assembled position on the base I, the Oring is distorted under axialand radial stresses by an annular shoulder 12 onthe radially inner faceof the bead seat band 6 to seal the passageway between the rim base 1and the bead seat band 6. An endless flanged side ring 13 telescopesover the rim base 1 and engages the retaining flange 2 to fix theposition thereof. A similar flanged side ring 14 telescopes over thebead seat band 6 and engages the retaining flange 7. The side rings 13and 14 engage the beads 15 and 16 of a tire (not shown) when mounted onthe rim to retain it in position thereon.

When the tire is mounted on the rim assembly, the bead l5 seals againstthe bead seat portion 17 which lies axially inwardly on the rim base Ifrom the assembled side ring 13 and the'bead I6 seals against a beadseat portion 18 which lies axially inwardly form the assembled side ring14 on the bead seat band 6. The bead seat band 6 is retained on the rimbase I by the lock ring 5which extends into the gutter 4 and is retainedthereby.

Both the side ring retaining flanges 2 and 7 respectively, have radiallyoutwardly facing annular offsets l9 and 20 on the axially inner sides ofsaid flanges for receiving retaining hooks of a bead-loosening toolwhich will be described later in the specification. A flange 21 forms aradially inwardly facing extension of the flange 2 and serves tostrengthen the axially outer edge of the rim base I. The additionalmaterial used in the outside diameter to form offsets l9 and 20 alsoserves to strengthen the axially outer edge of the rim base I and beadseat band 6. While in the preferred embodiment the offsets 19 and 20extend around the entire circumference of flanges 2 and 7, in someinstances it is possible that these offsets extend only part way aroundthe circumference of flanges 2 and 7.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, a bead-loosening tool is indicatedgenerally bythe numeral 22. The bead-loosening tool has a hydraulic ram23 which serves as an actuator for the tool and drives a plunger 24having a plunger head 25. A hydraulic supply line 26 is attached to theactuator 23 and supplies the necessary hydraulic pressure for operatingthe plunger 24. A yoke member 27 is attached to the end of the actuator23 from which the plunger 24 extends. As may be best seen in FIG. 5, theyoke member 27 has a threaded hole 28 therethrough which engages athreaded end portion 29 on the actuator 23. A retaining screw 30 passesthrough the yoke 27 and engages the actuator 23 to prevent it fromrotating in the yoke 27 and coming loose therefrom. The yoke member 27has a pair of spaced-apart outwardly extending arm members 31, each ofwhich has a slot 32 therethrough for receiving a hook member 33. Each ofthe hooks 33 is retained in its respective slot 32 by a bolt 34 and apin 35 which prevents the hook member 33 from rotating about the bolt34. The arm members 31 with the hook members 33 therein are spaced aparta sufficient distance to permit the plunger head 25 to move back andforth between them when actuated by the plunger 24. A bridge member 36extends between the lower halves of each of the arm members 31 andcontains a centrally located threaded hole 37 through which a pressurebolt 38 extends. The bolt 38 is positioned against the axially outerface 40 of the side ring retaining flange 7 when the hooks 33 arepositioned in the offset 20 during the beadloosening operation. Bytightening the pressure bolt 38 against the outer face 40, the hooks 33are drawn against the axially inwardly facing edge of the offset 20thereby clamping the bead-loosening tool 22 tightly to the rim base 6 sothat the plunger 24 may drive the plunger head 25 against the side ring14 and force it axially inwardly to force the tire bead off the beadseat and break the seal.

FIG. 4, used in combination with FIG. 5, shows the overall shape andstructure of the bead-breaking tool 22 and the manner in which it clampsonto the side ring retaining flanges of a wheel. Although thebead-breaking tool 22 has been shown attached to the flange 7, it will,of course, be realized that it can be applied in the same manner to theflange 2 by inserting the ends of the hooks 33 into the offset 19 andthen tightening the pressure bolt 38 to clamp the tool in operativeposition prior to actuating the plunger 24. Although the hooks 33 havebeen shown as lying in a flat plane they may be inclined to each otheror curved to better fit the curved contour of the rim on which they willbe used. Various modifications may be made in the arrangement and shapeof the hooks 33 without departing from the scope of the invention aslong as the hooks are of a proper shape and contour to properly engagethe offset provided for them in the side ring retaining flange. Variousother modifications may also be made without departing from the scope ofthe invention.

' We claim:

l. A tire-bead-loosening tool adapted to loosen the bead of a tire on aspecial wheel rim having at least one removable side ring retainedthereon by an annular radially outwardly extending side ring retainingflange, the side ring bearing against the axially inner surface of theretaining flange when in its normal assembled position on the rim withan inflated tire bearing against the side ring and having atool-receiving offset at the axially inner edge of the retaining flangeextending at least part of the distance around the circumferencethereof, the bead-loosening tool comprising:

A. an actuator;

B. a plunger driven by the actuator for imparting inward movement to theside ring and the tire bead away from the ring retaining flange; and

C. hook means mounted onthe actuator especially adapted for engaging thetool-receiving offset in the retaining flange to hold the actuator inspaced relationship to the side flange during actuation of the plunger.

2. The tool claimed in claim 1 wherein the tool-receiving offset extendsaround the entire circumference of the retaining flange.

3. The tool claimed in claim 1 wherein the hook means comprise a pair ofhooks mounted on the actuator and extending along each side of theplunger.

4. The tool claimed in claim 1 including adjustable means mounted on theactuator for hearing against the axially outer surface of the retainingflange and pulling the hook means tightly against the axially innersurface of the tool-receiving offset.

1. A tire-bead-loosening tool adapted to loosen the bead of a tire on aspecial wheel rim having at least one removable side ring retainedthereon by an annular radially outwardly extending side ring retainingflange, the side ring bearing against the axially inner surface of theretaining flange when in its normal assembled position on the rim withan inflated tire bearing against the side ring and having atool-receiving offset at the axially inner edge of the retaining flangeextending at least part of the distance around the circumferencethereof, the beadloosening tool comprising: A. an actuator; B. a plungerdriven by the actuator for imparting inward movement to the side ringand the tire bead away from the ring retaining flange; and C. hook meansmounted on the actuator especially adapted for engaging thetool-receiving offset in the retaining flange to hold the actuator inspaced relationship to the side flange during actuation of the plunger.2. The tool claimed in claim 1 wherein the tool-receiving offset extendsaround the entire circumference of the retaining flange.
 3. The toolclaimed in claim 1 wherein the hook means comprise a pair of hooksmounted on the actuator and extending along each side of the plunger. 4.The tool claimed in claim 1 including adjustable means mounted on theactuator for bearing against the axially outer surface of the retainingflange and pulling the hook means tightly against the axially innersurface of the tool-receiving offset.